Today was Charlie's first visit to see Santa Clause at the mall. We invited both of Charlie's grandparents to witness her first trip to see Santa and some of her cousins came along too. Santa was at the Galleria today so that's where we went to visit him. Charlie did pretty well with Santa! She didn't cry at all but she had a hard time looking at the camera. She kept looking at her cousins and putting her hands in her mouth so the best shot we got with her alone was looking at her cousins. But once her cousins joined the picture she finally looked at the camera.
After Santa pictures, we roamed the mall looking for food and found Ghengis Grill! One of my favorites! My mom and dad joined us for dinnner. Ghengis Grill is by the skating rink so we also go to see the giant Christmas tree at the mall.
After dinner we went with Zaza to pick out her Christmas tree. I love the holiday season and doing all this Christmas stuff with Charlie has been great! Especially since Cory won't be with us for very long on actual Christmas, its good to spend our family time doing Christmas stuff right now and every weekend before Christmas! :)
It's Christmas Tree day! Cory and I decided that we are going to start a new tradition this year and get our Christmas Tree from a tree farm in Canton where you can cut your own Christmas tree down. It was about an hour drive out to Yesterland Farm in Canton, but we spend the time listening to Christmas music and reading about the tradition and history of the Christmas tree.
When we got there we were excited to see all the rides, food, and activities along with many Christmas Trees for sale. Even though Charlie is too small to appreciate the activities, this looks like a place we would like to come to year after year when she can have fun riding the rides and shooting corn! Cory and I didn't ride any rides but we definitely shot some corn! That was fun! We also got some awesome Cream Soda from a barrel and ate a Corny dog and BBQ. We had a great time together getting our Christmas Tree and made our way back home to put it up and decorate it!
When we got the tree home it was much bigger in our house than it looked out at the tree farm but it looks amazing in our living room! We decorated the tree with baby pink and pastel purple for Charlie. Last year we had a Wedding tree celebrating 2011 as the year we got married so we used all of our wedding decorations to decorate our Christmas tree. Not only was it inexpensive but it was also a nice way to commemorate an important milestone in our lives. 2012 was definitely all about Charlie so it only makes sense to make our 2012 Christmas tree a baby tree for Charlie. It turned out beautifully! :) Now that the Christmas tree is up, it really is Christmas time and I am so happy to celebrate it every day from now until December 25th!
Charlie came to my school today! Cory is off this week and she's already had her two month shots so it was the perfect day to bring her to school for the first time. She made her way to see Ms. Vernon in her office, then to my room to meet my 3rd period kids, and then to see Ms. Boetcher and Mrs. Woods in their classrooms, and finally to see Ms. Fraley in the Main Office. She is such a ham already. She put on a show for the kids! As they were walking by going to lunch, many of them crowded around her to finally see the baby that I had been carrying for 9 months. She smiled and laughed at all the kids that were cooing and making faces at her. The kids LOVED her! They were so excited to finally meet her. She even stayed for a little bit of my 3rd period class and I can't believe how quiet my usually rowdy freshman geography class was while she was sleeping. I should bring her to school more often! haha! This will hopefully be the first of many visits to Booker T. And who knows... maybe Charlize will graduate from this school someday! :)
Tonight I got to take a break from being a teacher and a mom for a little while and have a good time with my girlfriends! Nicole and Taylor invited me to have dinner with them at Sfuzzi's to catch up before the holidays. We had a great time but I did miss Charlie so much while I was out. It was my first time to leave her and Cory for something fun so I did feel a little guilty. But at the same time it felt nice to get away and have a good time with my girlfriends. I'm sure Nicole felt the same way leaving Wyatt at home with Blake. We did spend most of our time talking about our little babies. They are the most important thing in our lives! :) I hope we get to do it again soon!
Bryan and Michelle's family are at Disney World this week so we get to puppy sit Sno's newest doggy cousin... Butterscotch Countryman!
He is SO cute! He's a little malti-poo with alot of spunk! As soon as he got here we taught him his name and how to use the doggy door so that he wouldn't have any accidents at our house. Sno and him got along great! They were even playing Sno's favorite game, tug-o-war, even though he is so tiny!
We are happy to have him staying with us this week. :)
Yes, it's that time of year again and I am SOOOOOOOOO excited to have my first Christmas with Baby Charlie! I love Christmas so much already! It's my favorite holiday for sure. But now that I get to share it with Charlize and see Christmas through a childs eyes.. It just means so much more! Since Charlize is only a tiny baby this Christmas, this Christmas is really about starting our family traditions. Cory is especially excited about starting family traditions because he's always pictured his family and how we would do things at Christmas time. One of our first family traditions is going to OUR town San Marcos, Texas and going to the annual Sights & Sounds of Christmas on the first weekend of December. San Marcos is a special town to Cory and I since we both went to school there and consider it our little get away in the hill country. It will always be a special place for us. We have gone to Sights & Sounds almost every year since Cory started going to school at Texas State and we always wanted to make that a family tradition once we started a family.
This year along with it being Charlize's first time, it was Katie and Gregory's 2nd time, and Denise, Victoria, Alexandrea, and Angelina's first time too! First we went to Centerpoint Station for lunch since it's Katie's favorite place to eat in San Marcos. She loves the burgers there since they use rolls instead of regular hamburger buns, plus they have a cute little shop that is attached that we love to go shopping in. Charlie had a very interesting experience at her first Centerpoint stop. She had a blowout and we decided to change her in the middle of the restaurant since the restrooms were small and crowded. Things got a little out of hand and her Zaza ended up carrying a naked baby around the whole shop/restaurant! So Funny! Kinda stressed me out as a mom at the time, but looking back on it even minutes later... it was pretty hilarious! We got Charlize all cleaned up and changed, had a good meal, and bought a few things at the store including a cute little (or shall I say BIG) red bow for Charlize from her Zaza.
After that we checked in to our hotel and got ready to go to Sights & Sounds! It was so fun to walk though those gates again with our daughter Charlize. Cory and I have made so many memories at Sights and Sounds and it's so amazing to start new memories with our baby Charlie! Even if she is only 2 months old, it was fun to have her there with us so we can tell her that she's been going there since she was born. She DID get to ride one ride at her young age! Cory and I always ride the ferris wheel without fail! It has always been so romantic to us to ride the ferris wheel, steel a kiss and try to snap a picture of old main once we get to the top. This time we had Victoria and Charlize with us! Oldest and youngest of the cousins. And Victoria snapped our family photo once we got to the top! After Sights and Sounds we went to Pluckers for late night dinner and had some Naked Chicken, Fried Mac and Cheese, and lots of Wings! Everyone ended up loving Pluckers which is great because it was another one of our college favorites that we wanted to share with them.
The next day we went shopping in San Marcos and on our way back home we stopped in Austin to eat at my FAVORITE restaurant ever, ZEN, and to see Cory's barracks, where he will be staying while he attends Trooper Academy. We also stopped at Dairy Queen, Denise's favorite, for dessert on the way back home.
We had a blast with the family and hope they did too. Maybe they will come with us again next year!
Happy Thanksgiving! Today is Charlie's 1st Thanksgiving with us! Last year her mommy and daddy were on a Cruise hoping and wishing for her, and now she's here with us! WE ARE SO THANKFUL for our precious little blessing!
We started off the day watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Parade in bed. I got emotional watching the parade that I have been watching every year since I was a little girl with my own little girl this year. She was asleep most of the time, but I sang songs with her and started our own little tradition of watching the parade. When Santa Clause finally arrived it hit me that the Christmas season has begun and it is SO much fun to have Christmas with a little baby. I have always LOVED Christmas and now that I get to share it with Charlize, it just means SO much more!
After the parade we got ready to go to Thanksgiving lunch at Zaza and Papa's house. We had a wonderful Thanksgiving feast there with all the fixin's! Instead of turkey we each had our own Cornish hens which are these cute little mini chickens! It was great! At the dinner table we all shared what we are thankful for this year and it was refreshing to hear from mostly everyone that we are all thankful for family. I am so thankful to be able to be officially a part of Cory's family for a whole year now, but also to have Charlie become a part of his family. She is very lucky to have them for grandparents, aunts and uncles, and especially all of her cousins! I am so glad that she will grow up like I did with a wonderful extended family.
Speaking of extended family, next we went to my family's Thanksgiving dinner which has grown so big that we didn't even get a seat. It was a good thing that we had already eaten, so it was no big deal for us. We spent most of dinner showing off Charlie to all the people to haven't seen her since she was born. I was happy that we got to see EVERYONE there. Especially Grandma Corina who made it to Thanksgiving dinner after her stroke a few weeks ago. Grandpa Buddy said a great prayer for dinner and mentioned how lucky we are to all be together on Thanksgiving after the many things that have happened this year. I love my extended family so much and I'm glad that Charlie get's to share Thanksgiving with them too!
Overall, we had a wonderful Thanksgiving and we were glad to get to spend it with both sides of our family. Charlize is so lucky to have the big family that she has.
Grandma with her granddaughters and great granddaughter.
Home sweet home! Great Grandma Corina is finally home from the hospital! I am very excited that she is just down the street from me again instead of down the highway at Baylor of Irving. It was difficult to take Charlize up to the hospital to see her. In the three weeks she was there we only got to visit her three times. I wish we could have gone up there more. But now that she's home we can see her any time we want!
We got together with the family tonight to welcome her home with good food and well wishes. She has been waiting a long time to come home and she seems so much happier being with family in her home. It was nice to see her progress since the last time we saw her in the hospital. She is doing so well for having a stroke only three weeks ago. We hope and pray for even more speedy recovery while she's home.
We love you Grandma!
Charlize is 2 months today! My have the days flown by! I can't believe just two months ago she was a newborn baby! Now she is saying goodbye to her newborn clothes and moving on up to 0-3 months. Our little girl is growing fast!
Charlie has been feeling pretty crummy since last night. She's had a stuffy nose and cute little coughs all week, but today she was sneezing out big green snot. I feel so bad because I've been sick all weekend and I know that I'm definitely the one who got her sick. Today Cory and I checked her temperature and she had a fever of 102. She held it there pretty much all day so we had to do something about it. Since she's less than 3 months old she's not allowed to take infant Tylenol and the emergency clinic that we would normally go to wouldn't take her so we had to take her to Children's Hospital's Emergency Room in Dallas. It was so scary to be taking our 8 week old daughter to the emergency room. We went through all the steps of checking in and telling several different people what was wrong with her. After running some tests, they let us know that all she had was an upper respiratory virus and they gave us the ok to give her infant Tylenol to decrease her fever. We stayed at the hospital until about 1am until they released us to take her home. Charlie will have to sit it out and try to get rid of the virus on her own, but at least we know that we can now give her Tylenol to decrease her fever and make her feel better. I hate seeing her in pain and knowing there is not much we can do for her. My first time playing mommy doctor was not as fun as I thought it would be, but I'm glad that it was nothing serious. Get well soon Charlize!
I can't believe it's already been a year since our wedding day! One year ago, on November 11th, 2011 (11.11.11) we said our vows and after 9 long years of dating we officially became husband and wife! "At Last!"
This year has been so amazing! It literally has been the best year yet! It started off with the most wonderful honeymoon and then a big family cruise, a blessed first Christmas in our new home, and a happy New Year! A little too happy... we soon found out we were expecting Charlie and the rest of the year was all about the birth of our daughter and becoming parents together.
We started celebrating last night after Cory's high school reunion. I had secretly made plans to finally get our wedding video from the videographer without Cory knowing, so we watched our full wedding video to bring back the memories. Unfortunately, I've been a little under the weather this weekend, so I woke up sick this morning and our anniversary did not get off to a good start. I made Cory migas for brunch but we pretty much slept the entire day away. I was pretty upset, but like we said a year ago... in sickness and health!
I gathered my strength (with the help of some strong medicine) to go shopping at the mall with Cory and Charlie. Since the 1st year "modern" anniversary gift is clocks. I got Cory a nice work watch that he can use when he's a State Trooper. We roamed the mall and I got to buy shoes and sunglasses. I haven't been shopping for myself in months! It felt so good to shop!
We went home and got ready for our date night. My mom and dad came over to watch Charlie on our second night away from her. It was a little bit easier to leave her tonight, so maybe it will get easier with every time we leave her. It is very assuring knowing that she's with family.
We chose Charlie Palmer's as our restaurant tonight. Pretty much for the name! We wanted a fancy restaurant that we could make special by going to it every year. Out of all the 5 star restaurants in Dallas this one seemed the most special because it had the best name! And it was absolutely delish! I had lobster and shrimp corn dogs for an appetizer and surf and turf with lobster mac and cheese for my main dish. Yum! And Cory's steak was pretty awesome too! We will definitely be back next year!
It's funny because all we talked about was Charlie. We missed her so much! She has really changed our lives and made our relationship so much stronger. She's awesome! After dinner we rushed home to see her!
When my mom and dad left, we got out our wedding cake from last year and our wedding china for dessert. We had a sweet desert and I got to open my gifts from Cory. The "modern" 1st year anniversary gifts is clocks, but the "traditional" 1st year gift is paper, so Cory did both. He gave me a framed clock with our wedding photo in it and an engraving that said "Happy 1st Year Anniversary I Will Always Love You Forever 11.11.12" And also... a framed photo of our map....TEARS started streaming down my face once I figured out what it was. You see, Cory and I really loved the movie "The Adjustment Bureau"! It was a movie about two people who were very different but destined to be together in the end. We loved it so much because it reminded us that even though it seemed like we didn't fit together because of all the obstacles that got in the way of our love, we were really meant to be. In the movie there was a map of people lives and they had guardian angels to make sure they follow that map to be successful in life. The characters in the movie accidentally crossed paths and fell in love. The guardian angels tried everything they could to keep them on opposite paths, but they refused to follow the paths that were layed out for them so that they could be together. At one point in the movie they even stayed apart so that the other could be successful on their "right" path. In the end, they broke all the rules and decided to sacrifice "success" to be together in love and they broke the map. Later they found out that they were supposed to be together all along. Cory drew our map! He made it look just like the ones on "The Adjustment Bureau" but with our own paths. My path was pink and his was blue. He started from the hospitals we were born at and then our elementary school, middle school and high school where we were always in the same area but never crossed paths until the end of high school. He even drew Walgreens where he first said hello to me. Then UT and North Lake and Texas State where we went to school separately but then together when I finally joined him at Texas State. And he even drew the part where we fell apart and decided to follow the paths that everyone else had for us in order for the other to be "successful" in life, but ultimately found out that we couldn't live without each other. He drew in the Irving Arts Center where he proposed and eM the Venue where we were married and finally the map disappears as we create our own lives together on the path of the unknown.
You might have to watch the movie to really get what I'm saying, but to me this gift really meant the world to me. Cory put so much thought, time and effort into this gift of "paper" and it made me so happy that he would think to do that. He knows how much I love analyzing our long past and how much I love sentimental gifts. This was the best "paper" gift I could ever ask for. A map of our life journey together. And the assurance that now we are finally on this journey together and nothing can break us apart. Like Andie said in her "maid of honor" speech last year. "Nothing can break these two apart... they're UNBREAKABLE (Sung in the style of Alicia Keys)!"
Happy 1 year anniversary to the love of my life, Cory Taylor Countryman! This has been the most amazing year of my life and I can only imagine the blessings that are yet to come from our love!
